My Number One
by Books In the Blood
Summary: When Henry goes to a club to search out a suspect for the police and Abe tags along, he plans on the evening going smoothly. The last thing he planned on was having to drag his extremely drunk elderly son home at the end of the night. And he certainly didnt suspect the reason for Abe's odd behavior. When Henry finds out he's to blame for it, he feels terrible.


_Warning: Brief mentions of drugs and alcohol use/intoxication_

"Well, this is thoroughly boring, I'm getting a drink" Abe announced, his arms crossed over his chest, looking around the bar. "You're some company on a Friday night, you know that?"

Abe was teasing but Henry felt himself grow annoyed. "Well, I didn't exactly ask you to come along with me, did I?" he asked. He had been asked by Jo to scout out the club for a drug lord they had been searching for the past several weeks. They had narrowed down several clubs that he was known to frequent, one of which they suspected he was going to pull a major drug deal at tonight. Henry was overly annoyed and he knew it; it wasn't that bad. He was just sitting and waiting for something to happen but the pulsating 'music', bright lights and partying of the huge crowd that barely looked legal to be here was getting on his nerves. He disliked it all and he had to admit that he was still miffed that he had had to cancel his plans with Jo for dinner that night. He should be having a sophisticated, adult dinner with Jo; instead he was surrounded by twenty-something kids in various levels of intoxication, accompanied by his 70 year old son who was amusing himself by (successfully) hitting on girls young enough to be his granddaughters. It was not his ideal way of spending a Friday night.

"I actually recall someone saying that since he had to drag me along here, he would get me dinner on the way home. Hope this isn't the treatment your dates receive." Abe corrected him with a laugh. They had been out at an estate sale when Henry had gotten the call. Henry didn't quite recall it that way; he seemed to remember Abe had asked to come. Either way, he was still completely annoyed.

"You're not my date; I treat them better, I assure you" Henry said, leaning back on the bar as a half clothed girl bumped into him and sloshed her drink on his pants. _Great…_

"Believe me, I wish I wasn't here right now" Henry said, annoyance dripping from his tone.

"Well, that's obvious" Abe said. Now he sounded annoyed and Henry couldn't figure out why. What could he possibly have to be irritated with? He wasn't the one missing a date…..an 'outing' with friend.

Abe ordered a drink and downed half of it in one gulp, pushing the rest toward Henry. "Here…loosen up" he said.

Henry's irritation was reaching an all-time high. He pushed Abe's glass away from him. "Abe, please" he said. "I'm working; I'm not drinking while I'm working."

"Fine…."Abe said with the same disgruntled tone he used to use as a teenager. He downed the rest of drink and ordered another.

"Not planning on pacing yourself?" Henry observed, watching Abe start on his second drink. It seemed a bit excessive for him.

"Actually, no" Abe said, with a slightly smart grin. "What, does that annoy you as well?"

Henry scowled. "If you're annoyed by me, you could just leave you know?" he commented. He was getting distracted and if he missed what he was supposed to be looking for, he might have to stay here even longer when he just wanted to go home.

Abe surveyed him as if trying to figure Henry out. "What is your problem tonight?" he asked honestly. He looked annoyed but worried at the same time.

"I don't have a problem" Henry muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just want to get this done and go home. This isn't how I wanted to spend my night"

Abe finished his second drink, slamming the glass down harder than necessary. "Yeah…me neither" he said, anger in his tone before he jumped off of the stool that he was sitting on and disappearing into the crowd.

….

The night was a bust; Henry had sat around the blaringly loud club for another hour and a half before he was able to call it quits. The drug lord had been caught and apprehended in another club several blocks away and Henry was only too glad to leave. He had not seen any sign of Abe since he had stormed away and Henry assumed he had gotten a cab and went home. Fine…..Henry didn't know why he seemed so miffed but it would do everyone good to go home and get some sleep, hopefully waking to a better day tomorrow.

Henry was sure that his hearing might be permanently altered by the screaming music in club and he made his way as quickly through the club as he could, pushing past crowds of people. He was almost free, had almost made it to the open air when he was frozen in his tracks by a sight that was surprising even to him after over 200 years of life experience.

"Abraham!" Henry burst out. It was a tone that he hadn't used for over 50 years but one that used to be quite affective.

It surprised Abe as much as it surprised Henry to hear it come out of his mouth. Abe turned around, a smile crossing his face. "Hey, Dad!" he said, waving enthusiastically.

Henry knew Abe was much more of a social butterfly than himself but it stunned him to see Abe in the middle of a club, a drink sloshing in his hand, covered in glow sticks of all things, a group of young, barely dressed women dancing with him. What was worse, he was drunk. Very.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked him urgently, hoping that no one else had heard his slip.

Abe laughed, way too enthusiastically since Henry hadn't even said anything funny. "What does it look like, dad?" he asked, laughing again as he began to drink from his cup, spilling it down his front. Henry was alarmed, not only by Abe's behavior but by the state that it was putting his mind in. It had made him extremely sad when the day came when Abe was an adult and he could no longer refer to Henry as his dad in public. He'd been calling him Henry for so long that he rarely called him dad, even in private. And this definitely wasn't private.

"It looks like you're making some very poor choices" Henry said, breathing deeply to control his temper. He snatched the drink out of Abe's hands; he definitely didn't need it. "Why are you drinking so much?"

Abe laughed again, nearly dissolving into a fit, his young, drunk companions laughing along with him. "Because it's fun…..why else? Are you going to ground me?" Abe asked with a laugh. His new 'friends' seemed to think it was hilarious.

"Go easy on him, pops" one of the girls said to Henry with a giggle. He was pretty much certain she was under the influence of something heavier than alcohol.

Great….they thought it was some cute pet name or something; better than the truth. Henry noticed the symptoms of drug use in Abe's new found friends and nearly had a heart attack when he noticed the heavy beaded chains with different soothers on the ends of them. "Abraham, are you on drugs?!" he asked hysterically. The last thing he needed was to nurse his elderly son through an ecstasy trip.

As with everything else, it just sent Abe in a fit of laughter. "What? No" he said after a long moment.

Henry had never had to worry much about Abe as youth; sure he drank and was a bit rambunctious like any kid. But he'd never had to have any serious conversations with him. And he certainly never expected to see his elderly child wearing rave beads. Henry grabbed them and held them up for Abe to see. "Then why do you have these?" he asked.

Abe looked at them, transfixed as if they were dancing in front of his eyes. "Oh, the girls just gave me those. Pretty aren't they?" Abe asked.

Abe was completely out of control and taking Henry with him. "So you haven't taken anything?" Henry asked again, hysterically.

"Don't be such a square" Abe said, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"That's not an answer….yes or no?" Henry demanded. It had been quite a while since he had gotten so 'parental' on Abe but he had to know, from a medical standpoint if nothing else. He was growing quite alarmed; this was not normal Abe behavior. Not even normal drunk Abe behavior.

Abe huffed, the laughing vanishing and replaced by petulance. "No….I didn't take anything. Just those delightful little drinks" he said.

It was hard to say what 'those delightful little drinks' had in them but Henry wasn't going to press it. He grabbed Abe's hand. "We are leaving. Come on, Abe" he said forcefully.

Abe jerked back just as forceful, wrenching his hand away. "No. Why should I leave?" he asked defiantly. "I don't want to go anywhere with you right now."

Henry was tired and the last thing he wanted was a public altercation. "Okay…..fine. You don't have to want to but you need to come with me. You are highly intoxicated." He said.

Abe's face turned slightly red in anger. "Oh…..so…..you consider me an annoyance all night but now you want me to come with you?" he said.

"I had work, Abe" Henry explained in a slow voice. "I'm sorry it took so long and we didn't get to go to dinner but that's just the way it turned out. I didn't plan this night to go this way"

"Yeah, just like you didn't plan on going to the jazz festival tonight either." Abe said. Suddenly, all bravado was gone. Abe just stood there, lighting up like a Christmas tree, his face falling.

"What do….oh…." Henry started but then he stopped when it hit him like a terrible force.

This was the night he was supposed to go to the jazz festival with Abe. They had had their tickets for it for months now but Henry had forgotten about it. In fact, he had forgotten about it so much that he had planned the dinner date with Jo for tonight. Not only that…he'd practically bragged about it to Abe who had, painfully, not reminded him about the festival. All evening he had been complaining like a child because he had to work and cancel his dinner with Jo. Every time he said something about how annoyed he was about the state of the night, it only reminded Abe that he'd not remembered their plans.

Henry felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. "Oh, Abe. I'm sorry" he said, guilt riddling him.

"Yeah, sure" Abe said, unconvinced. He made his way toward the front door, leaving Henry behind him.

….

In his inebriated state, Abe was quick to catch up with. Henry was thankful to catch him standing on the curb, hailing a cab. He practically fell into the cab, closing his eyes and ignoring Henry the whole ride home. Henry didn't blame him; he'd made a terrible mistake. It made it seem like he didn't care about keeping his plans with Abe. He did…he'd just made a horrible mistake.

When they got home, Abe stumbled out of the cab; when Henry tried to help him, he shrugged him off. "Just leave me alone" Abe said tiredly. Henry just stayed outside, giving Abe plenty of time to hobble inside alone. He didn't want to leave this unfixed but Abe deserved some space.

When Henry got inside, he followed a haphazard path of beads and glow sticks to Abe's door which was firmly closed. Henry's heart ached to follow him; putting his hand on the door to knock but Abe could intuitively sense his father's intrusiveness. "Go away, Henry" Abe said muffled through the door. Henry knew better than to press it.

Henry set about taking a shower and dressing for bed, preparing some tea before heading toward his own room, not feeling any better for having done any of it. He still felt terrible. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten something that was so important to Abe. He no doubt felt as if Henry didn't care and Henry couldn't blame him; though he knew he had made an honest mistake, he knew how it must look to Abe. He wanted to do something to make it up to him but he couldn't imagine what, especially since Abe wouldn't even talk to him.

Before going to his room, Henry couldn't resist the temptation to try and get Abe to talk to him again. He knocked on Abe's door but there was no answer; taking a chance on possibly encountering a very angry Abe, he pushed the door open.

Abe was already asleep and Henry wasn't really surprised. He walked over to Abe's bed and watched his sleeping son; even in sleep his face was scrunched as if upset and Henry's stomach churned with guilt. He thought about how quickly Abe had been drinking and how it had seemed uncharacteristic of him; Henry had done that to him. No doubt he'd been looking for a distraction.

Feeling sentiment and with no reason to hold back, Henry leaned down and gave Abe a kiss on the forehead. "I love you, Abraham. And I'm very sorry" he said with honest he knew he should be saying to a conscious Abe.

…

Henry didn't sleep; he didn't even try. He was feeling much too sentimental and that's how he ended up looking through old photographs and handmade cards at 3:00 AM. Usually he only did that when he was feeling particularly self-abusive; it was usually an alcohol fueled practice. But not tonight; tonight he wanted to see each item clearly and remember what had brought them here.

The first scribbled drawing Abe had ever made as a toddler….the birthday card he had made him when he was six that still hemorrhaged glitter with each touch…a much later birthday card, store bought that had "happy bicentennial birthday, dad!" written on it. A picture of him and ten year old Abe playing the piano, him, Abe and Abigail on Abe's graduation day, Abe standing in front of the antique store the day it opened…..all of it meant something dear to Henry. He'd kept all of these and more; he was sure that Abe wouldn't believe that he had. All of it made his heart ache but in a good way; he loved Abe dearly and somehow he would find a way to make up his oversight.

Henry was packing up all of the items back in the old wooden box he stored them in when he heard the sound of footsteps creaking through the house. Knowing there was only one place Abe could be going this late, he found him exactly where he expected him to be. The bathroom door was cracked, light spilling into the hallway; Henry could see Abe leaning over the toilet, being violently sick and his heart went out to him. Sure, he had brought this on himself but Henry was sure that he had only made such poor choices because he was upset. Henry waited until he heard the sound of Abe being sick dissipate , giving him time to compose himself before knocking on the door.

"Abraham? Can I come in please?" Henry asked carefully. He didn't want Abe to push him away again.

Abe paused for a long time. "Yeah…I have to warn you though, it's pretty ugly in here"

Henry pushed the door open and walked into the bathroom to see Abe sitting on the edge of the tub by the toilet. His face was ghastly pale and sweaty and he was shaking; he was the picture of misery. He was mopping his face and forehead with a washcloth, looking as he might be sick again any second. Considering how much he had drank, Henry was surprised he wasn't in worse shape. He was definitely going to need a tall glass of his own hang-over cure in the morning.

Henry filled up a cup with water and came to sit on the tub next to Abe, handing him the cup. Abe sipped the water gratefully, looking somewhat embarrassed under the cover of his sickness.

"Listen, Abe, about what happened tonight-" Henry started, wanting to apologize for his gross oversight but Abe cut him off.

"No, I'm sorry" Abe said, taking a deep breath as he color began to improve. "I mean, honestly, what was I thinking? I haven't acted like that the 70's. Now that I'm sober I can see my dancing for the embarrassing display it was." Abe chuckled in self-depraving humor.

Henry smiled. "Didn't seem to bother the ladies…..they were quite taken with you" he said cheekily.

"Yeah and they were high as a kite too" Abe chuckled.

Silence passed between them as their laughter tapered off. Henry paused before saying what he really meant. "Actually, I was apologizing about the jazz festival" he said finally.

"Oh….."Abe tried to act like it didn't bother him but his face fell instantly. Henry could see the war of emotions cross his face; he was sobering up but he was still compromised. "Well…..that's not a big deal"

Abe was good at hiding when things bothered him and he had learned it all from Henry; it was one thing that he wished he hadn't passed along. "No, it is a big deal" Henry insisted. "I promised that we would go and I admit that I forgot about it. That's not okay and I'm sorry." Henry didn't mention the drinking and the reckless behavior; to say out loud what they both knew, that he had done that because of Henry, would have been too embarrassing.

Abe's face was sad but glancing at Henry he forced a smile. "Hey…I can't blame you for wanting to go on a date more than going to a jazz festival with your kid when you hate jazz" Abe said it humorously but Henry knew deep down he was hoping Henry would argue the point; Henry was not going to disappoint him.

Henry skimmed over the fact that his dinner with Jo was certainly not a date and cut to the real matter. "Abe, I don't want you to think that you don't matter to me. I would not intentionally ignore plans with you just to go out with Jo" Henry said seriously. He looked at Abe, finally meeting his eyes so that Abe could know that he was serious. "You're my son; you come first. Always."

Henry could feel the stirring of misty emotions in himself and could see Abe was similarly affected. "Dad…..don't get sentimental" Abe said, coughing gruffly. It was a defense and it always showed Henry he'd gotten to Abe.

"Well, of course not" Henry said humorously, giving Abe a genuine smile. "I'll try to hold myself back. I just wanted you to know I plan on making this up to you"

"Oh, I'm sure you will. I'm already planning what we can do together that you enjoy even more than jazz" Abe said conspiratorially with a sly smile. Maybe, somehow, he could actually forgive Henry for what he had done.

"Fair enough" Henry said, holding up his hands relenting. Whatever Abe planned it was the least that he could do; Abe deserved it.


End file.
